Journal Entry: August 10, 2013

6:35 pm – Wow! I haven’t written an entry all of today. And my last one yesterday was at 2:00!? There’s a lot to say, I guess.

Yesterday, after a long and arduous journey, I finally acquired my cellphone. It was a rather tiresome affair for both Riku and I. I’m sure Riku was tired after a long day of work, and sitting around waiting for me to make decision after decision probably wasn’t his ideal day. On the same hand, those decisions tired me out as well because I had to sign my cellphone contract and make a bunch of decisions entirely in Japanese. Lord knows I probably paid more than I should have. That said, I have a pretty nice Samsung Galaxy S4 which runs Android. Ah, dream come true! Droid can be difficult to use sometimes coming from an iPhone, but I’m really happy with this decision.

Having the phone meant I had both LINE, facebook, and email again, letting me get back in touch with friends and family. It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a week since I’ve come to Japan. It’s felt like a month. But in this one week I’ve learned so friggen much. Things that were troublesome for me a week ago seem like cake now. A week and this is the progress I’ve made! Well, best keep at it. I keep saying あと一年 to everyone. I do mean it. In a year my Japanese will be pretty good, I know.

This morning I felt my first earthquake, which was pretty interesting. A magnitude 4.8, I guess. I had just eaten some natto—something I’m training my stomach to enjoy—and so having the room shake when my stomach wasn’t feeling too good was a little annoying.

Around noon I went for a walk intending to go to the 七ヶ宿公園 but a bridge stopped me. Walking on the side of the road, without sidewalks, was a little perilous on the narrow Japanese roads. Coming to a bridge with not a hint of area to sidestep if a car came flying by—that stopped me. Better safe than sorry. When I have a car, I’ll go there.

Oh, I’ve decided I’m going to get a car. Lease, probably. Anywho, that’s for another day.

At the bridge, I stopped in a small open dirt area. A makeshift parking lot of sorts. A car pulled in and a couple walked out, heading down a dirt road. After a few seconds—long enough not to be creepy–I decided to follow in their steps.

The dirt path gave way to a grassy cliff-side with a bridge to an area known as 傾城森. While the 公園 would have been nice, this new route turned out to be a great alternative. After a short walk, I decided to take some videos of the area. I’m thinking of putting them online. Maybe have a Youtube channel? Anyways, the end of my journey brought me to a nice temple on the mountaintop.

The snake that blocked my path.

Coming back, I walked into town hoping that Marumitsu would be open. Alas, 準備中. Always 準備中… But it was 2:00, which was the same as last time. Perhaps I should go around noon tomorrow? I came back around 4 and the same sign was posted. I walked over to the only other restaurant, なべちゃん, which was typically 準備中. But today it wasn’t! Today it said…

定休日. Typical off-day. Well, now I know.

I figure these restaurants will be open once school starts. Man, I can’t wait!! But for now, it’s day after day of rice, ramen, and eggs. I found some キムチラーメン though, so that was nice. Something different.

I’d like to think I could survive off the same two or three meals if it means I’d save money, but like the phone, I need to do something that’s good for my daily well-being. Maybe I should buy some fruits soon. Yeah, they’re a little expensive, but maybe they’re just what I need.

One week in Japan. That’s almost surreal. So long ago. I can’t even remember what not liking natto was like.

The あと一年 (after one year) thing I kept saying back then was that after one year, hopefully I’d be able to have good conversations and whatnot. I’m still working on that. Is my Japanese far better than it was last year? Yeah. Without a doubt. But the higher you go, the more you realize you have to tackle. Now I can play games without looking up words if I don’t want to and I can have hour long conversations in Japanese. But I stumble. And I’m hoping after another year of this, I’ll stumble less. I imagine so.

As for the natto thing, that’s a general policy I have with food. If I don’t like it, I just have to keep eating it. Eventually I’ll like it. Or, at least, tolerate it. But I do like natto now. So that one worked.

And man, to think that restaurant hours would change once school starts. I guess I was just hoping for the best.

On the other hand, なべちゃん is one of my go-to restaurants on Saturdays and days off now. I’m just a real fan of the owners.

Finally, that Youtube channel never turned into anything. That said, I have this blog now. I could post the videos, but they’re all sideways and poorly made anyways. If only I knew a way to turn sideways videos right-side up.